Homestead

Quotes:

“A joyous celebration of wilderness.”—Publishers Weekly

“These are clear-sighted, alluring, often genuinely luminous essays, by a writer for whom the form seems as natural as speaking.”—Richard Ford

“Here is a woman to admire and love. 'You can fall in love with space and sky,' Annick Smith writes. 'A girl from Chicago can go West and find mountains.' In Homestead Smith gives us the whole vivid Montana scene: ranchers, wildlife biologists, poets and country bands, good neighbors, horses and trout. . . . A passionate story, beautifully told.”—Annie Dillard

“Smith's powerful memoir chronicles her husband's early death, the raising of her four boys and the majesty of the land. Perfect for those who live rugged country and understand that wild places own us more than we own them.”—US News and World Report

“Homestead makes a wonderful addition to the growing body of Western women's memoirs. The view is excellent, the air and water clear. And you will find your visit with Annick Smith to be truly worthwhile.”—Journal of the West

“One of Smith's best essays is on state cattle inspectors, who keep track of the 57,000 brands now recorded in Montana; another good one describes life on the Big Blackfoot, made famous in Norman Maclean's A River Runs Through It which Smith helped to adapt for the screen.”—Los Angeles Times

“Smith's gorgeously written memoir explores a woman's hard-won intimacy with her adopted state. . . . A student of western history and folk culture, Smith illuminates not only her own journey, but also the lives of Montana's cattlemen, American Indian inhabitants, range detectives, country-and-western bands, and the disheartening ‘new economy of tourism, golf courses, and condos.' Bracing as a mountain stream, Homestead is saturated with an acute feeling for place, the values of community, and the power of wilderness to sustain and transform our lives.”—Outside